Metrication
by BonesBBLover
Summary: BB fluff! Booth goes on vacation, Brennan goes to an emergency meeting of the IMA. Can they survive a week apart?  NO SPOILERS!
1. Chapter 1

**A NZ plot bunny found it's way back to the States, with the help of Jacey925. This one is for you, Jacey! Hope you like it!**

Chapter 1—Wednesday

Booth and the squints were standing on the platform working on the current case. Brennan and Zach were hunched over the body making observations, while Booth and Hodgins were arguing about some conspiracy or other. After almost a half hour, Booth threw his hands up, refusing to argue anymore. A comfortable silence fell over the lab as they went about their work, broken only by the occasional comment about the state of the body.

All of the sudden, Brennan's cell went off, startling the scientists and the agent. Turning off her voice recorder, she answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. "Brennan," she stopped, giving the other person a chance to respond. "Oh, hey Chrissy. Yeah. Yes. No, I told you I wasn't going. I can't get away from the lab right now."

Her friends couldn't hear the person on the other end of the line, but Brennan's facial expression was enough to give away she wasn't happy with what she was being told, and her sudden outburst of anger confirmed their suspicions. "He's WHAT?!?!" she cried out, suddenly stopping mid-pace. "He can't DO that!" she visibly calmed down, as they could almost see her brain trying to look at the problem logically. "What is his argument?" she had reverted back to her composed exterior, but they could still see her seething anger behind the mask. "He can't… you know what, I'm coming," the person on the other end said something, probably pointing out the fact she had just said she couldn't go. "I don't care, he can't do this, and I'm the only one that can stop him!" she calmed even more, and Booth assumed the caller had agreed with her. "Ok, tell Jacey I'll be there," she paused again, a smile crossing her features, "Thanks, that sounds great. I'll email you my flight information ASAP, ok? Great! See you then!" she hung up the phone, turning to see her colleagues looking at her as if she was a bomb ready to explode.

"What?" she questioned her friends, who all looked away quickly, muttering "Nothing" and "Nevermind."

"Hey, Booth," she walked towards her partner, catching his gaze. "You're leaving on your vacation with Parker this weekend, right?"

"Um, yeah, Bones. We leave Monday morning. Why?" he couldn't imagine what his vacation had to do with whatever the phone call had been about, but he figured he would find out soon enough.

"Oh, I just called down to New Zealand for an emergency meeting of the IMA, and since you'll be on vacation next week, we won't have any cases around here… so it won't be too big of a deal if I go," she said, glad to have found something to do while he was out of town. The first time she had turned down the invitation to the conference, it was because she couldn't imagine going anywhere without Booth anymore, as much as that fact had bothered her. Now, though, since he wasn't going to be there, she was thankful to have something to take her mind off of him while he was down in Florida with Parker.

"IMA?" both Angela and Booth asked simultaneously, and then laughed at each other.

"International Measurement Association," Brennan replied, moving to go back to work.

"You're going to that? Really?" Hodgins asked, surprised she had given in when she had been so set against it a few weeks earlier. "What changed your mind?"

A look of disgust crossed her face, surprising both Booth and Angela. "Ronak Patel is pushing to keep the standard system of measurement, and apparently he has found quite a following."

"No way!" Hodgins exclaimed, completely engrossed in the drama happening in the IMA, "I thought they took away his license and doctorate."

"Apparently not, because he is pushing to make this committee look absolutely ridiculous, and I refuse to let him make us look like fools. We will win the vote this time," her determination was evident in the way she carried herself around the platform as she talked, making Booth smile.

"I'm sure you will. You've managed to persuade some of the strongest supporters of the standard system since the last vote," Hodgins said, thinking of Christiana Black, who he had never expected to give in, and yet was the one calling to beg Brennan to go to the meeting to go up against Ronak.

"I need you to be on conference call when we have the vote, okay Hodgins? You hold a position on the committee, and I know how much you hate this, but I'm going to need every vote I can get."

"Of course, just let me know about an hour before I have to be on the call. We'll either be here or at home all week, so just let me know when," he said, content in knowing she wasn't pushing him to go to the actual meeting, he returned to his work, trying to identify an organic compound that was found on the body.

"Ok, explain what is going on," Booth said, looking at Brennan in complete confusion, which wasn't uncommon in the lab, but today it had nothing to do with the case and he was curious.

Brennan sighed, looking up at her partner, wanting nothing more than to tell him everything that was going on. "Most of the committee information is confidential, or else I would tell you. Basically, though, Hodgins and I are both on the IMA committee, and an emergency meeting was called to discuss and vote on switching the US over to the metric system. We had assumed there wouldn't be any competition this year for the vote, but then an old enemy showed up again, and now I have to go to New Zealand for a week or so to deal with this."

"New Zealand, as in down by Australia, New Zealand?" he asked, surprised she could just up and go to New Zealand without thinking about missing work. Not that there was a lot to think about because there wouldn't be any cases, but he was still surprised.

"No, New Zealand as in the Middle East, New Zealand," she replied, rolling her eyes as his blank expression. "Of course, down by Australia, New Zealand, Booth!"

"Oh, okay," he said, pouting a little and making her feel as if she had kicked a puppy.

"I need to go book my flight, so I'll be back in a few minutes you guys. Come get me if you need me," she said, walking towards her office, already dialing her travel agent.


	2. Chapter 2

**This entire story, concept, and even the IMA stem from a random comment I had made about one of Jacey's pictures that had a metric ruler in the edge of the photo. Until then I'd never seen a ruler that was metric on both sides (yay for being American), so I was totally amused, and it spawned this ridiculous discussion of having a committee known as the International Measurement Association having emergency meetings to get me out of things I don't want to do. And now, since the IMA has become a running joke, I had to write a fic about it. It's random and ridiculous, but I hope it amuses you all. Now onto the next chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 2—Saturday

Rushing through the Dulles Airport, Brennan was trying not to miss her flight. Luckily for Brennan the case they had been working on wrapped up late Friday night when their suspect turned himself in and confessed to the murders, so she was able to go home to catch few hours of sleep before needing to go to the airport. Unfortunately, though, she had overslept and was now running through the terminal, dodging people and bags.

She made it to the gate just as they were calling for any last passengers, and she quickly made her way to her seat and collapsed into it, catching her breath. Pulling out her iPod and book, Brennan settled in for her lengthy flight to Auckland with one stop in Los Angeles to refuel.

* * *

Almost 24 hours later, the plane touched down on the runway in New Zealand. The minute the flight attendant announced that passengers could use their cell phones, she turned hers on and found she had 4 missed messages, which she promptly listened to. Two were from Booth who just told her to have a good trip and call him to let him know she landed safely, one from Angela who wanted to know if she needed someone to water her plants while she was gone, and one from Chrissy telling her to call as soon as the plane landed.

Calling Chrissy, she made a mental note to call Angela and Booth when she got into the terminal. She smiled when she heard her long-time friend answer the phone. "Hey Chrissy, where are you?"

"Sitting outside customs with Jacey, waiting for you. We're against the far wall when you get through, just walk straight back."

"Do you have coffee?" after a full day of only airline coffee, she was dying for something with flavor.

"Of course, I've got one just for you. Hurry up through customs and you'll get while it's still hot," she said, laughing, knowing there was really no way to hurry through customs in any country.

"Ok, I'll see you soon, then. Bye," hanging up as she walked through the terminal to customs, Brennan dialed Booth's number, waiting impatiently for him to pick up.

When the phone went to voicemail, Brennan sighed. She had really wanted to hear his voice, if just for a few minutes. She didn't want to admit it, but she missed him already, and it had only been 30 hours since she had seen him. "Hey Booth, it's me. I just wanted to let you know I just landed and am standing in line to go through customs. I hope you have a safe flight and have fun on your vacation. Tell Parker 'Hi' for me, and I guess I'll see you next week. Bye," she ended the call, disappointed she hadn't actually been able to talk to him while she stood in line.

Calling Angela, she left a short message letting her know that she landed safely and thanking her for offering to water the plants. By the time she ended her calls, she was surprised to see there were only a couple of people in front of her.

A few minutes later, she was through customs and looking for Chrissy and Jacey along the back wall. Finally she spotted her friends approaching her with a cup of coffee, which she readily traded for her duffel bag. Leaving the airport, Brennan was stunned to see how much had changed since the last time she had been down.

While they drove, they caught up on what was going on in each other's lives. Brennan was surprised to see how easy it still was to talk to them, even though they hadn't seen each other in more than 5 years, since the last IMA meeting. She told them about working with the FBI and Booth and some of their cases, while she listened to stories about blowing up satellites and diving off the Great Barrier Reef.

Soon they arrived at Jacey's house, near the university, and had settled Brennan into a spare bedroom. Just minutes after the three had started making lunch, Brennan's phone had rung, and she grinned to see it was Booth.

Dropping into one of the kitchen chairs, she talked to him for almost an hour as she regaled him with stories of her fellow flight passengers, which also drew laughter from her friends as they ate the lunch they had finished preparing.

After promising him she'd pick him up at the airport the following weekend, she got off the phone with Booth to see wide grins on the faces of her two friends. "What are you two smiling about?" she asked, having a feeling they were going to tease her about Booth. She was right.

"So you're pretty close with your partner, huh?" Jacey asked, her tone light, but dripping with innuendo.

"He's my best friend," she tried to ward off their smiles, "we're not romantically involved."

"But you want to be," Chrissy jumped in, trying to see if they could still make her blush. It worked.

Turning a light shade of pink, Brennan dropped her head. "Yes, I like him in a more-than-friends kind of way. But he drew a line a long time ago, and I'm not going to cross it because I will just wind up getting hurt."

With a sideways glance at each other, Jacey and Chrissy knew it was probably time to change the subject. "So is Jack coming down for the meeting?" Jacey asked, knowing Brennan worked with one of their biggest supporters on the committee.

"He's not flying down, but he will be on video conferencing with us all week and he'll vote," she replied, as they all let out sighs of relief at knowing they had four confirmed votes. "Is Patel's following really that strong?" she asked, needing to know how much work she would have to do throughout the week.

With another glance at Chrissy, Jacey decided she would be the one to break the bad news to Brennan. "He managed to persuade Hart…" she trailed off, wondering how Brennan was going to take it.

She didn't say anything for almost 5 minutes, silently contemplating the news that she had lost a major supporter. Finally she broke the silence, "Do we know if anyone else has changed their minds?" she asked, hoping she hadn't lost anyone else.

"Now that we know Jack is going to vote, all our other supporters are accounted for, and still support the cause," Chrissy replied, silently praying Brennan would be able to persuade some people, or else the metrication process would be postponed once again.

"Ok," Brennan replied simply, "I'm going to finish unpacking and maybe take a short nap. I'll see you for dinner?"

Both nodded to her, watching her get up from the table and head down the hall to the spare bedroom, her shoulders tense as her hand moved to her pocket to pull out her phone.

* * *

Flopping onto her bed, she put the phone to her ear, waiting for him to answer.

"Hey Bones," he answered, "Miss me that much already? I just talked to you an hour ago!"

"No, no, I'm sorry I called, I don't know what I was thinking…" she trailed off, getting ready to end the call when she heard him telling her to stop.

"I was just kidding, Bones. What's going on?"

Not really sure why she had called him, other than she wanted his reassurance that everything would work out fine, she launched into a short, edited version of the story. "…And so basically I lost one of my biggest supporters, which means chances are we're going to lose the vote, again," she ended, hoping she didn't sound as desperate as she thought she did.

"Hey, Bones. You're nothing if not determined. I know you, and I know you argue logically and rationally. Just be you and you'll be alright, especially since the group you're talking to is a bunch of scientists who like everything to be rationalized logically. I know you'll do great. You don't lose anything when you set your mind to it."

Even halfway around the world, his words were exactly what she needed, his reassurance and faith in her making her believe every word he said. "Thanks, Booth. I should go talk to Chrissy and Jacey, but I'll talk to you soon, ok?"

Back in DC, Booth smiled, knowing he would probably hear from her tomorrow night, and if she didn't call him, he would definitely call her to see how the first day of meetings went. "Ok, Bones, have a good evening with your friends."

"Bye, Booth."

"Bye."

On opposite ends of the world, both hung up their phones, silly grins on their faces as they thought about the other.


	3. Chapter 3

**I want to say thanks to those of you who are reading and reviewing this completely random fic, and major props to jerseybones for finding me a tie-in to an episode! In 1x06 A Boy in a Bush, Brennan comments on the pressure needed to crack the boy's ribs in kilos, then Booth asks her for the American translation. So maybe this fic isn't SO far off the beaten path. Haha, well, onto the story!**

* * *

Chapter 3—Tuesday

Brennan woke early on Tuesday morning, her body still not quite used to the time change. Checking her email, she was happy to see an email from Booth, which she quickly opened.

_Hey Bones,_

_You'll do great today. Don't worry too much today, just be yourself. Your logic is enough to persuade anyone, especially a bunch of scientists. And if that's not enough, your persistence, determination, and stubbornness is enough to make them give in eventually. Good luck, and I'll talk to you soon!_

_B._

She smiled at his comment on her stubbornness, knowing he was probably the only person in the world as stubborn as she was, and yet they got along so well. Sending him a quick text message, she walked down the hall to the kitchen to find some breakfast.

She was surprised to see Chrissy already up, cooking pancakes and bacon. "Morning," she said, getting a glass of water and dropping into a chair, "sleep well?"

"Yeah, thanks. How about you?" she replied, expertly flipping a pancake.

"Not bad, I'm still adjusting to the time change, though," Brennan said, yawning and running her fingers through her hair.

"Coffee is on the counter," Chrissy replied off-handedly, gesturing of to her right, where Brennan saw a full pot of steaming hot coffee.

"Thanks, water just isn't enough to wake me up anymore," Brennan said, thankful for the caffeine as she poured herself a cup.

"Jacey should be out of the shower soon, then we'll eat," she said as Jacey was coming down the stairs.

"Morning girls," Jacey said, grabbing plates and starting to set the table, "Did you talk to your tall, dark, and handsome last night?" she asked Brennan, teasing her about her partner. Brennan had been on the phone with him on and off all day yesterday, and she expected they had talked after she and Chrissy had gone to sleep.

Blushing a little, Brennan just nodded, pouring Jacey a cup of coffee and taking it to the table with a glass of milk for Chrissy.

"You still don't drink caffeine, huh?" she asked Chrissy, taking a long sip of her coffee.

"Nope. David has a caffeine addiction, as do both of you, and not one of you can function without it. I don't really want that problem, thanks."

They all laughed, knowing it was true. After swapping stories of their inability to cope without coffee, they finished eating and cleaned up quickly.

* * *

Less than an hour later they were on their way to the university to get ready for the meeting which would take place the following day. They set up the meeting room with video conferencing capabilities, four monitors in all, for the four members who weren't able to fly down for the meeting.

Sitting around the table, they spent the next few hours finalizing the agenda and their arguments. Since school was out for the holidays, they were startled a few hours later to hear someone arguing with the one security guard down the hall.

Brennan listened for a moment before jumping up and opening the door. _It can't be…_, she thought. "Booth! What are you doing here?" she asked, stunned to see her partner trying to get by the security guard.

"You know this man, Dr. Brennan?" the guard asked, looking at her while still blocking Booth from walking down the hall.

"Yes, you can let him come in, Daniel. Thank you," she replied, aware Chrissy and Jacey were standing in the doorway behind her watching the scene play out.

"Booth," she repeated, watching her partner walk down the hallway toward her, "what are you doing here? Where's Parker? What happened to DisneyWorld?"

Booth sighed, and she realized how exhausted and disappointed he looked. "I'm here to surprise you. Surprise!" he said, trying to sound happy and throwing his charm smile her way.

She couldn't help but smile when he did that, fighting down her happiness at seeing him, she replied, "Fine, don't tell me yet, but you will tell me later."

Stepping to the side, she gestured at her two friends still standing in the doorway, matching grins on their faces. "Girls, this is Booth, my partner. Booth, this is Dr. Jacey Tennant and Dr. Christiana Black. They were my roommates in college."

"Really?" he asked, suddenly interested to hear stories of Brennan from her college days.

"Yeah, we all lived together for all four years of undergrad," they replied, the grins never wavering on their faces.

"You have to tell me some stories about her, okay?" he asked, knowing full-well that Brennan would smack him and tell them not to. He wasn't disappointed, getting a hard smack on the arm while she told them they were not to tell him any stories.

Laughing at the pair, Jacey and Chrissy watched them interact. "Well, since we were about to go get lunch, would you like to join us?" Jacey asked him, still grinning. She was planning to win the $50 bet she had going with Angela back in DC, and this lunch would help her to do it. A plan began to form in her mind, knowing her job was going to be a lot easier now that he was there.

"Um, sure," he replied, slightly scared of Jacey and Chrissy's Angela-esque smiles. If they were anything like her, he knew he was in for one interesting lunch.

* * *

A little while later they were enjoying their lunch, with Brennan sitting awkwardly next to Booth as he got to know Chrissy and Jacey who were sitting across from them.

"So what do you do for a living?" Booth asked, hoping it was something that he at least knew what it was. The pair didn't seem too bad to him, they definitely were more knowledgeable about the real world than Brennan and Zach, and not nearly as crazy as Hodgins.

"I'm an aerospace engineer," Chrissy responded, smiling at him. "I specialize in Areology, which is the study of Mars."

"That's pretty cool. Do you design the shuttles and all that?" Booth asked, actually interested and glad he somewhat understood what she was talking about.

"I helped design the Mars Global Surveyor, which was actually a satellite that we launched in 1996. I'm currently working on another one to send up, since we lost contact with Surveyor last year," she elaborated, knowing Booth would be at least partially interested in her work, since Brennan had told her about their case with the dead astronaut and the weightless experience. "I work down at the NASA station in Florida, so maybe you can get Tempe to finally come down and visit me one day. You can bring your son, too, I'm sure he'd love it."

"Oh he definitely would!" Booth agreed, his excitement coming out in his smile, "Hell, I would love it." Turning to Brennan, he put his arm around her shoulders, "Why didn't you ever mention you knew someone who worked for NASA? We could have done all kinds of cool stuff!"

"I don't know, it just never came up," Brennan said, relaxing as her friends chatted, comfortable with Booth's arm around her. It would be fun to go down and see the NASA station with Booth and Parker, especially getting to experience zero gravity again.

"What about you?" Booth asked Jacey, wondering what other random scientific field Brennan's friends could possibly work in.

"Well, I actually have three doctorates, in Planktology, Phycology, and Nematology," she replied, elaborating when she saw the blank stare on his face, "the studies of plankton, algae, and microscopic roundworm parasites."

He raised an eyebrow in question, amazed anyone would actually want to study any of those things. "What on earth do you do with that?"

"I work at the Waitomo Caves during the holiday, and teach here at the university during the school year," she explained. "Which reminds me, we're going to have to go down to the caves before you leave, Tempe," she told her friend.

"Oh, definitely! I really want to see them!" Brennan said, getting excited by the prospect of maybe seeing them with Booth.

"She'd get along great with Hodgins," he commented to Brennan, pulling her a little closer to his body.

"She'd better get along with him, since she's Jack's cousin," Brennan said, smiling at him.

Booth stopped, turning back to Jacey. "Hodgins is your cousin?" he asked, intrigued.

"By marriage, but we grew up together in DC," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I wasn't able to make it to the 'wedding,'" she continued, using air quotes.

"Huh, that's interesting," Booth said, still trying to grasp the fact that Jacey, in all her normality (except for her doctorates, of course), was related to conspiracy-theorist Hodgins.

Still thinking about the caves, Brennan looked up at Booth, "When are you heading back to DC?"

Booth grinned back at her, "I actually am on the same flights you are to go back, so we leave Sunday."

Brennan smiled, flying with Booth was much better than flying alone. "Cool. And since you didn't tell me earlier, why ARE you here? What happened to your vacation with Parker?"

Booth's smile disappeared as he remembered why he was in New Zealand rather than at DisneyWorld with his son. Parker came down with chicken pox late Sunday night, and since I haven't had them yet, I can't be around him for another week."

"Oh, Booth," Brennan said, placing her hand on his knee. "I'm so sorry! I know how much you were looking forward to your vacation…" He still hadn't directly answered her question, though. She didn't want to pry anymore, but she figured it had to do with the fact that he didn't want to sit alone in DC, knowing he couldn't see his son who was across town.

"Things happen, I guess," he said, looking down at his food. Even though he was disappointed about his missed vacation with Parker, being in New Zealand with Brennan was the next best thing.

"Where are you staying?" Chrissy asked suddenly, needing to break up the heavy sadness that seemed to be hanging over their table.

Booth looked up, realizing someone was talking to him, "Um, I hadn't really thought that far ahead, I just traded in our plane tickets for a ticket down here."

"You can stay at my house," Jacey offered, "Even with Chrissy and Tempe, there is still plenty of room."

"Thanks," he grinned across the table at the pair, his arm still around Brennan's shoulders.

Glancing at her watch, Chrissy was surprised to see how much time had passed. "We should actually get going, since we need to run by the house before the meeting starts later tonight," she said, standing up and grabbing the check.

Pushing Booth out of the booth, Brennan easily caught up to Chrissy and took the check away. "I got this one," she said, going to the register to pay for their lunch.

* * *

After going back to the university to get Booth's rental car, they arrived back at the house, where Jacey quickly set Booth up on the fold-out couch in the den, right next door to Brennan's room.

Leaving Booth at the house to get settled in and adjust to the time change, the three girls headed back to the university for the first meeting of the International Measurement Association in the past 5 years.


End file.
